Valentines Day Ideas for the Broke

The season of love is upon us. Wal-Mart has been ready for it since the week after Christmas and ads have been on TV since New Years. But what do you do when you want to show some love for your honey but are on the ramen noodle budget? You have to get creative.

This year will be the fourth Valentines day that I have spent with my boyfriend. While I love him more than anything and love our dinner dates and movie dates, I like to do things other than sit and watch a movie and make dinner. The problem is that I have great ideas but not such a great budget. Thank you college. But over the last few years, I have started getting more creative with things to do without spending a lot of money, because hey, its the thought that counts right?

So in honor of the season, I have compiled some of my favorite non-dinner-and-a-moive dates that we have done and some things that I want to do in the future.

Go to the Park for a Picnic- This is one of my favorite things that we have done because it can be as spontaneous as you want. There have been times that we have made plans to go out and then other times that we just go get lunch and go sit outside. Getting out of the house when the weather is nice makes for a great day.

Look at the stars- Similar to the picnic in the park, grab a blanket or two, a few pillows and a drink and drive out of town a little bit to be away from the lights and just lay and watch the stars. It is very peaceful to just lay there, talk or just think. Hey, I mean even Simba did it in the Lion King.

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Find a Festival- While the town we live in is fairly small (really the only thing that we have is the University and Wal-Mart) we have lots of festivals near us. Small, southern towns love to have festivals apparently. Troy has one in April but different areas have different festivals throughout the year. A lot of them are free to get into and who doesn't love festival food?

Fill in the Blank Date- Okay, so this is basically a dinner and a movie date, but it has a different take on it. If you and your honey are like me and mine, then a very common discussion is "what do you want to do?" "I don't care, what do you want to do?" and on and on. Well this takes the guess work out of it. Just write it out and have your significant other fill in the blanks.

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Paint Together- Last year, for our anniversary, I gave my boyfriend a year of dates and January's was to paint a canvas together for each other. This also makes a great group date because it can be adjusted for however many people you have. I got our supplies from Social Artworking because they have everything and it was easy to follow. It is a DIY Paint Party! Then you have something special to hang in your room from your lover. Or if you live together, hang them next to each other and show off your talent.

Dinner and a Movie- If you do just really want to eat and watch a movie then try this, go to the library and to get a couple movies. Most public libraries are free to get a card if you live in the county or district. Now each of you go pick out a movie that you want the other to watch. Rule is you can't complain about what the other picks and you have to watch both. Once you get the movies, go back home and cook dinner together. You can cook anything you want, but do it together. Then eat and watch your movies.

These are just a few of my favorite date ideas. What are some different date ideas you have?

Happy Valentines Day!